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Weeks after Pakistani artistes got banned from working in India, their social media handles are starting to get blocked in the country. Apart from this, YouTube handles of Pakistani channels including HUM TV and ARY Digital, have been blocked in India, but the individual episodes of shows are still available.
On Thursday morning, netizens noticed that Instagram handles of Pakistani actors Hania Aamir, Sanam Saeed, Mahira Khan, Ali Zafar, Sajal Aly, Saba Qamar and Imran Abbas have been blocked in India. Upon trying to access their handles in India, Instagram shows the message, “Account not available in India.” It seems like there was a legal request for this as the detailed message read, “This is because we compiled with a legal request to restrict this content.” But, Instagram handles of other Pakistani artistes like Fawad Khan, Atif Aslam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan have not been blocked.
While trying to access ARY Digital, a YouTube page comes up with the message, “This content is currently unavailable in this country because of an order from the government related to national security or public order. For more details about government removal requests, please visit the Google Transparency Report (transparencyreport.google.com).”
On April 22, Fawad Khan’s upcoming Hindi film Abir Gulaal was reportedly banned in India by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry. The film also stars Vaani Kapoor and was seen as Fawad’s return to Hindi cinema after nine years. His last release, 2016’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, which was directed by Karan Johar, also faced major cuts as there were many protests in the country regarding his presence in a Hindi film. This was shortly after terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, and soon after, all Pakistani artistes were banned in India.
Veteran screenwriter and lyric writer Javed Akhtar recently spoke to PTI and said that in the past, India has been extremely welcoming to Pakistani artistes like Ghulam Ali, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan but the Pakistani governement hasn’t shown the same kind of affection for Indian artistes. He even pointed out that they never invited Lata Mangeshkar even though many Pakistani poets wrote poems in her honour. “It has been a one way traffic, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Noor Jahan came to India, we gave them a great reception. Faiz Ahmad Faiz, who is a poet of subcontinent, he was living in Pakistan, when he came to India during the AB Vajpayee regime, he was treated like a state head, the kind of respect given by the government,” he said.
Javed added, “I am afraid, this has never been reciprocated, I mean, I have no complain with the people of Pakistan. Big poets of Pakistan have written poems for Lata Mangeshkar. She was hands down most popular artist in India and Pakistan in the 60’s and 70’s, but why there was not a single performance of Lata Mangeshkar in Pakistan? We have received artistes with open arms but it was reciprocated by the establishment. I won’t complain to people of Pakistan because they loved her, that’s why she was so popular. They admired her but there was some blockage, the blockage was system, which I don’t understand. This is one-way traffic.”
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